Sunday, March 28, 2010

I picked up another Eyes Creator (3D) eye palette from Maquillage´s spring collection as I just love Maquillage´s eyeshadows and the silver/purple palette looked pretty, too.

I think I don´t need to go into details regarding the compact etc. It´s a rather huge compact with 2 cream and 3 powder shades.

The white cream shadow is a base or highlighter. I use it all over my lids and then apply the powders on top. The last step is the cream liner.

The cream base is actually quite good as it doesn´t crease on me at all. The powders are shimmery and rather pigmented however the liner is a little hard and fades a bit during the day.

VI767 contains a white cream base, a shimmery silver liner and shimmery pretty pigmented powders in ivory, light beige brown and a light purple with a green duo-chrome finish (hard to see on the pic). The purple shade is a little chalky and what I would call dull but in combination with the other colors it´s quite pretty. I first thought the combination is somehow weird but the colors go together very well!

Lasting power is excellent (except for the cream liner). I got mine on Adambeauty but I think he´s sold out of this color. You can definitely get this on Ichibankao and maybe Gooddealer or eBay.

All in all this is a pretty palette but not a must-have for me. It gives a pretty soft spring eye look as the combination of brown, silver and light purple is very fresh.

I use a wild collection of brushes from Clinique, MAC, Laneige, Banila Co, EtudeHouse, no-name brands etc. I am pretty happy with the brushes I have but I was searching for a 2nd shadow brush for lid application and a nice fluffy face brush as the no-name one I used is a little scratchy (not that bad though).

Adambeauty lists the expensive (but excellent) Tesshyu Takemori brushes. I got his dual-ended shadow brush and the eyelash comb about a couple of years ago and been using them regularly ever since. I thought about getting the face brush but then recently saw this cheap brand on Adambeauty called NTP Japan for US$8.50 per brush... I thought that the brushes are probably crap but I decided to pick up 2 of them to check the quality out.

Each brush came in a protective clear plastic pouch and is supposedly made of natural hair (I couldn´t find the exact kind written). The handles are made of a shiny black material.

When I got the brushes I was quite surprised by how soft the bristles feel.The Face Brush #6 is dense and soft and has a rather flat top. It distributes face powder in a thin very fine coat so it looks really even and natural.Very good brush for the cheap price in my opinion! I´ve been using this daily for the past week and noticed that there was nearly no shedding, too. Maybe 3 or 4 bristles at all, even after washing.

The Shadow Brush #1 is perfect for packing on shadow on my lids. It´s a dense rounded brush on the flatter side so it deposits a lot of color and aids really well in blending the shadow into my crease and eye socket.This didn´t shed at all however there was one hair that was longer than the rest so I had to trim it.

Overall I am deeply impressed and will probably pick up a few more items (blush brush and the other eyeshadow brush, too).

Sasa keeps listing new bathing powders and I simply can´t resist bathing powders from Japanese brands as they´re such a wonderful treat!Bison makes great bathing powders however they´re on the pricey side (after all it´s quite expensive to pop a US$2-bag into 1 bath one will enjoy for 15 minutes. But anyway, I splurge and indulge myself (that being said a Lush Butterball costs like double that amount at least with the prices here).

One of the most recent additions to the Bison bathing powders range is a line called "Funwarich Mousse Bath". There are 4 variations available and they all give a milky tint to the water and create a very moisturizing foam (the foam feels almost like a gel or even slimy when you take it and spread it over your skin)... a very weird kind of foam I have never experienced before. The foam is not very strong but the bath is overall very moisturizing and leaves my skin very soft and smooth.

The 4 available versions are:-Apple & Chamomile:Sasa lists this as Apple & Daisy but the flowers on the package look like chamomile to me (also chamomile extract is one of the ingredients). This is my favorite one as it smells really good (apple). It turns the water a milky light green.Contains milk powder, Hydrolized Collagen, Hyaluronic Acid, Ascorbic Acid and Chamomile Extract. Softening agent: Malic Acid.

-Pudding:This smells like caramel pudding. I like it but it´s not my favorite scent as it has a slightly harsh note.Turns the water a bright milky orange.Contains milk powder, Hydrolized Collagen, Hyaluronic Acid, Ascorbic Acid and Lecithin. Softening agent: Malic Acid.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

I am really extremely happy with the Eye Wash Lotion from Rohto which I use daily. I recently ordered a (I think new) product from Rohto which is an "Eye Moisturizer" to use during the night.

The Eye Moisturizer comes in a very pretty bottle which looks more like a perfume or nail color bottle. You can use this up to 6 times a day but I only use it at night which is the intended usage.The 4 active ingredients are printed here:

They are helping to relief eye tiredness, promote blood circulation, moisturize and hydrate the eyes.Unlike the Rohto Lycée eyedrops this product does not have a cooling sensation or burning feeling so I personally feel it´s very comfortable to use.

All in all this is a really nice product. I can´t say how well this moisturizes my eyes lol... but my eyes feel comfortable and I didn´t have problems with the scratch on my cornea since I started using this (as the scratch stings when my eye gets too dry which is a rather painful experience).

This Line Power Eyes palette from Shiseido Integrate came out last fall but I wasn´t quick enough to snatch it up on Adambeauty as BE300 (which is a limited edition color) sold out within a few days after he listed it. I found it again on Facial-Shop so I ordered it along with a few of the new Ettusais Jelly Glosses (to be reviewed soon...they´re really nice!).

I reviewed the green quad here and must admit that the quad in BE300 is even nicer (because the colors are even prettier in my opinion) =DThe texture is silky and smooth and the level of pigment is quite good. There is one cream shade (the white one for lining the lower inner 1/3 or your eyes), the other 3 are powders.

The quad contains 2 eyeshadow colors, one is a nice shimmery nude pink-beige and the other one is a golden color with some glitters in it. There is also a liner which is a deeper gray color with golden shimmer (which makes it look almost green).

The colors last all day on me (I always use an eyeshadow base) and there is no irritation at all. I´d have preferred if the golden shade would come without the glitters but overall the quad is really nice.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Yea, you´re reading this correctly: Fall 2009 =P I didn´t review these 2 items from IPSA earlier as I scored them on eBay just a couple of months ago (and then forgot to review). My review is probably not really useful anymore but might be you still find these goodies pop up on eBay from time to time =)

IPSA is a so-so brand for me. They make some excellent items (in particular their lipliners and lipsticks/glosses) but their eyeshadows are often a let-down.I didn´t order anything from the fall collection last year as I found them too pricey but I scored both goodies on eBay for less than US$20 shipped so I couldn´t resist.

The Eye Color Duo is actually really tiny as you can imagine from the pic where I placed it beside the gloss!

Last year´s fall theme was "Urban Safari" (as I read here on my favorite blog Rouge Deluxe) and the case comes with a metallic pink and black zebra stripe design. The case itself feels a little flimsy and is made of plastic.There is no mirror and only 1 sponge-tip applicator in the compact which is a bit weird for an expensive brand like IPSA. The overall quality of the compact (and shadows as I will write about below) reminds me more of a drugstore brand like say Shiseido Selfit. After all the retail price was around 3000 Yen which transfers to over US$30 for the 1.2g in the compact (I can get a pretty Kanebo Coffret D´or quad for just a few bucks more on Adambeauty!)

The color duo #3 Desert Walker (I know the box shows #2 as the seller accidentally put the compact in the wrong box..)is actually very pretty and I was lucky that the seller listed this along with the gloss as the other 3 colors didn´t appeal to me at all.The color is a shimmery gray with colorful micro-glitters and a satin peach shade.Unfortunately the texture of the duo totally sucks. The shadows are crumbly (creating a mess) and dry and have a very dull and uneven finish. Very weird in all honesty. Brands like Fasio, Kate and Integrate have much smoother and better textures and cost about half.

I am very glad I didn´t pay retail for this. In all honesty I didn´t need this duo at all =XOn the swatch you can see the strange uneven finish of the gray color. Both shades are on the sheer side, too.

The Lip Gloss Duo however somewhat makes up for the weak performance of the shadow duo. I had a sort of flashback when I saw the gloss! It´s the exact same thing as the PN glosses (check my MUA review here!) from like 5 years ago. This makes me realize once again that Shiseido owns IPSA!

PN was the predecessor of Maquillage and had really nice products (though Maquillage continues the quality well and improved many things like the eyeshadows!)The texture is the same as the PN glosses (rather thick, sticky, long-lasting and glossy). The color is sheer but noticable.There is a layer of more pigmented gloss on the bottom of the lipgloss bottle and a translucent gloss on top. When you pull out the clear flexible spatula applicator both glosses mix a little.

The gloss is really nice, I like it a lot! The color is #2 Twilight Beige which is a nice peachy beige shade.This retailed for about 2700 Yen (a bit below US$30) and contains 8g.

Yea I know I wrote a lot about skincare, bodycare and hair stuff over the previous weeks... I hope I am not boring anyone! I used to be pretty strictly a makeup blog only but started to branch out to other cool Japanese beauty products away from makeup =D (I somehow don´t have so much new makeup to review right now as I skipped quite a few Spring collections but looking forward to the summer stuff from Majolica Majorca and others!). I still have a few items to review though (Fasio mascara, Maquillage eyeshadow, Coffret D´or lippies etc. so expect more makeup review coming soon!)

Anyway, here is a makeup review =D Well, 2 Clearlast makeup bases from B&C so something between skincare and makeup at least =D

I´ve spotted these makeup bases for some time now on Adambeauty but since I have a ton of makeup bases somehow didn´t feel the urge to order them. I still have too many makeup bases but suddenly really wanted to try these ones from B&C out so I ordered the W Hyaluronate Moisture Essence SPF16 PA++ (Treatment Primer) and the FaceConcealer (Base Make Primer) from Clearlast.

What attracted me was the pretty pastel packaging (yes, again I admit I am shallow!). The tubes are very tiny though (only 20g per tube!!) so they´re not really what I´d call value for money (I paid US$13 incl. shipping which is actually less than the Japanese retail price of 1260 Yen!).

W Hyaluronate Moisture Essence SPF16 PA++ Treatment Primer:The Moisture Essence comes in a pale pink tube.This is a moisturizing makeup base with a little color so it will even out the skin-tone a little.

The Moisture Essence is really nice and makes my skin very soft and smooth and the added color gives a nice smooth canvas for the following foundation.This is tinted in a light yellow beige but it´s so sheer that it blend into my natural skin-tone without any problems.

Something a bit unusual for Japanese brands is the fragrance. It´s a light floral scent which bothers me a little anc could be really annoying for others.

Face Cocealer Base Make Primer: This comes in the light yellow tube.It´s a lovely liquid powdery base giving a velvety finish to the skin. To me this feels more oil-controlling than any of the other makeup bases I use however it´s not drying in my opinion. So when you smooth this on it first feels like a soft cream but quickly transforms into a powdery texture.

The Face Concealer has a bit of a medium beige tint to it but this is as sheer as the other base that it blends into my skin really well without giving a yellow or ocher tint I was expecting when I saw the color the first time.

This also seems to give a hint of pearlescence but it´s nearly not visible.Since this offers super sheer coverage it evens out the skin-tone a little bit but not dramatically so.This is perfumed, too!

Overall I am quite happy with both bases as they create a nice smooth base for foundation and even out my skin-tone slightly. They don´t irritate my skin (I actually thought they would due to the scent and the yellow one due to the powdery texture).I could live without the perfume though and think for the price they should come in larger tubes (30g or more!)

Saturday, March 20, 2010

I found the Goat Milk & Lavender series short time ago on Sasa and couldn´t resist ordering 3 of the products. These skincare items are made for babies but that didn´t keep me away from ordering, on the contrary this is what attracted me most (baby = usually nice smell and mild formula). I wasn´t entirely selfish anyway as I got 2 products for my toddler and one for me only =P

The Goat Milk & Lavender series comes in pretty lilac and off-white packaging which I adore very much! Though the animal shown on the package is not a goat but rather a ram (a male sheep to produce goat milk? I don´t think so!) =P

As I expected the scent is just divine! A soft baby powder scent with a herbal note (lavender). I just love the soft scent very much!

I got the Body Cream (100g in a jar) for my toddler and it is really rich and makes her skin very soft and smooth, the Face Lotion (100ml in a nice heavy squeeze bottle) is hers, too, and it´s more lightweight but moisturizing as well!

I actually was a bit astonished that the ingredients list of both those items looked rather long (normally baby stuff has less stuff) but her skin seems to have no problems with irritation or allergies so I am happily using the things on her.

I use the Body Milk which comes in a generous 300ml pump bottle. It´s a rich and moisturizing but not heavy or sticky lotion. My skin absorbs this very quickly but stays very soft all day long. The scent could linger a little longer but that´s not a big problem for me I got all these goodies from Sasa and I am very thrilled with them (for Sara and me). Each cost around US$10 which isn´t that much (good baby care here is not more costly than that). Overall highly recommended no matter if for your child or yourself =)